Isaiah begins with a striking image, calling the people “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah.” It’s a sharp echo of the old story from Genesis, where those cities fell under God’s judgment. Many through history have tied that judgment to sexual sin, but Ezekiel gives another angle—one that runs deeper. The heart of the problem, he says, was a failure of hospitality. When strangers came to Sodom, the townspeople sought to harm them, and Lot had to shield them. In the Bible’s world, failing to care for the vulnerable—the widow, the orphan, the stranger—was a sign that something had gone terribly wrong. This is what Isaiah is pointing to: empty offerings and clouds of incense mean nothing if they mask hearts that ignore justice. God’s voice cuts through the ritual smoke: Wash yourselves. Seek justice. Rescue the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow.
Archbishop Anthony Bloom warned how easy it is for our words to run on autopilot, whether we’re reciting a well-loved prayer or speaking freely from the heart. True prayer isn’t about the performance or the feelings—it’s about remembering that we are actually speaking to God. Imagine being asked to give a speech before a king; you’d prepare your words, speak clearly, and give him your full attention. In prayer, God is not an “it” to be talked at, but the living “Thou” we address directly, with respect and intimacy. When we lose that awareness, both God and people can slip into becoming mere objects in our minds, and love gets pushed aside.
Isaiah’s challenge, then, becomes something deeply personal. To worship truly is to keep our gaze fixed on the God who made us, and to let that gaze spill over into how we see others. It’s learning to see every person—especially the vulnerable—as carrying God’s own image. It’s catching ourselves when our minds wander in prayer, stopping, and starting again with our hearts turned toward Him. And it’s noticing when we’ve started treating people as “its,” then returning to the truth that they are “you’s.” In that way, our worship and our lives align: focused on God, honouring His creation, and walking in justice, hospitality, and love.